Bennett explained NFL players use it for reasons other than getting high, reasons which have been behind the push by many to allow the use of medical marijuana as an alternative to opioid painkillers and other prescription drugs.

“There are times of the year where your body just hurts so bad,” Bennett said. “You don’t want to be popping pills all the time. There are anti-inflammatory drugs you take so long that they start to eat at your liver, kidneys and things like that. A human made that. God made weed.”

Medical marijuana already is legal in many jurisdictions where NFL teams are based and an increasing number of states allow the recreational use of weed, including California and Colorado.

Still, marijuana remains on the NFL’s banned list, although it takes two positive tests for the drug before a suspension is issued. After an initial positive test, a player is put in the NFL’s “Stage Two” intervention program, which means for a span of up to 24 months the player faces more frequent testing.

“To date, they haven’t said this is a change we think you should make that’s in the best interests of the health and safety of our players,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said last year. “If they do, we’re certainly going to consider that."